The 6GC Nerds Thread, For anyone that considers themselves a 'nerd' Options

[rentaspace]

Soooo, I am not sure if we have one here or not, I did a search and nothing came up, so I decided to make this thread....
Not sure how well it will go, but I thought maybe we can get everyone that considers themselves a 'nerd' to post why they believe that? Maybe some How-to's and such
There should be no bias here, you may post anything from you love playing Saxophone, Love technology to model building.
I will start, basically I am a Tech-Nerd, I love technology... I work in an Online PC store, I build and test computers whenever I can... I also love Aviation and aircraft, I have a model plane collection of around 120+ models, I also have model cars and yeah

So here we go, the first How-To video, How to install an SSD into a PS3:
Anyway, lately I have been
My PS3 Story:
Well, over the past three days my PS3 has been unusable.
I will begin my story, with the sudden and dramatic speed decrease in my Playstaion. Basically, to load the console, took ten minutes for the XMB to show on screen, and then it would take a minute or more for EVERY movement.
Then, GTAV wouldn't load, took ten minutes to get the starting siren sequence, and rockstar logo and then it went into an infinite 'Loading Story Mode'. All the while the HDD LED was 100% on.
And finally, the PSN would no longer connect, it connected to Internet fine but PSN failed. I jumped onto PlayStation Aus and sure enough a new update was available which fixed "stability issues" so downloaded that instantly....
My troubles really began now, the download got to 99% then took 40minutes to complete the last 1%. Then installation got to 99% before the console crashed and shut off... Upon restarting, the infinite 99% brick started.... (You CANNOT access the safe mode)
Fixed the issue with a workaround of installing my GFs spare laptop HDD and then swapping it out for the original HDD...
To my surprise, the PS3 was still as slow as ever and GTAV still didn't load.... So, I booted into safe mode and did all the non-destructive restores I could... All to no avail.
I decided to backup my and my GFs saves onto a spare External HDD I had. After waiting 5 hours for it to copy 6 measly GB, I formatted the HDD and started again.... Tried to load the backup and it took 40minutes per 1%.... I was sick of its s**t and pulled the plug.
Then it hit me, I had a spare 120GB SSD laying around upstairs so here is a quick guide to installing and configuring an SSD in your PS3:

BEFORE YOU START THIS:
If you have CRITICAL save games, then backup your HDD save files by going to the "Backup Utility" in the XMB menu. You will have to use a PC to format an external/portable HDD with the FAT32 Filesystem, the PS3 ONLY reads the FAT32 system. NOT NTFS.

First Off, What will you will need?:
- Your PS3 Console, mine is a 320GB 'Slim'


- A USB stick configured with the latest PS3 firmware.
If you do not know how to do this, it is very simple, on windows, go to the Australian PS website, and download the latest firmware to the desktop.
Plug in your USB, and make a new folder called "PS3" then create a folder called "UPDATE"
These folders MUST be in upper case.
Then copy the downloaded .pup into the UPDATE folder.
Your USB is now ready.


- The Solid State Drive (Mine is a 120GB Samsung 840)
You do NOT need a state-of-the-art SSD, the PS3 doesn't have Sata3 speeds and also has no TRIM function, so even a 2 year old SSD would be fine


- You will also need a small screwdriver set, I used a Clock/Jewelers Set. You literally only need 1 screwdriver...

Now we get to business.
Step 1: Flip the PS3 console over and remove the plastic covering the first screw:


Slide the Plastic front panel down the PS3 to reveal the HDD cage:


Now, remove the HDD cage by unscrewing the four screws and then install it on the SSD in the correct way:

Step 1 complete....



Step 2: Configuring the new SSD:
Plug your pre-configured USB stick into the PS3 and make sure your controller is connected via a cable.


Turn the PS3 on, and be greeted by this ominous message:

Press the start and select button simultaneously.

The USB will be checked and you will be greeted with another ominous message;

Press and Hold the START and SELECT button for at least 5 seconds.


The SSD will be formatted, a hell of a lot quicker than the old HDD:



Then after the console restarts, the new Firmware will be installed, This took me ages as my USB is USB1.0 standard []


Your PS3 is now SSD powered

If you are like me and like the best and fastest in everything, then this is a great update...
My PS3 is now going great, the console loads to the XMB menu in 5 seconds, The XMB menu loads everything instantly, moves with 0 lag, Loads GTAV from disk insert to playing in 2 minutes and now no longer has to buffer and render the games while you are driving/flying around the city fast.


So, there is the first "nerd" how-to What have you guys got to share and broaden everyone knowledge

[rentaspace]

Fittings arrived and now leak testing/cleaning the loop: